A sprained thumb motivates Lydia to choose a major and inspire others; Jackie is faced with an unexpected pregnancy and a marriage proposal.

Lydia learns that a physical-therapy aid is assisting the football coach in getting an edge over the competition; Jackie has an unpleasant encounter with Victor's mother; Paulie and Plum elope when Dolly won't accept their engagement.

Lydia dates a hockey player and gets a false impression about him as well as Eric; a new employee starts working at the restaurant; jealousy gets the better of Paulie.

Lydia discovers that Eric's wife is having an affair; fed up with municipal bureaucracy, Dolly takes matters into her own hands.

Secrets continue to weigh down Lydia, who continues to keep mum about Paulie's marriage and Karen's affair; Dolly gets depressed when she learns a sordid secret about her father's past.

Paulie is frantic when Plum is reported missing on Halloween; Dolly is forced to entertain Plum's neurotic mother; Jackie receives a lesson in parenting from a lost trick or treater.

Lydia's romantic advances toward Eric fall on deaf ears; Paulie is worried by the arrival of Plum's old boyfriend; Jackie gets in touch with Ray's sensitive side.

Days before their official church wedding, Plum and Paulie reconsider the wisdom of being married; Lydia asks a hockey player to be her date for the wedding.

Scandal rocks Dolly's campaign thanks to a protest striptease by Lydia, and Paulie's decision to have sex with Plum in the park.

Lydia reconsiders a romance with Eric, who begins to rethink his relationship with Samantha; Dolly tends to the needs of a lonely voter.

Lydia helps an actor bring authenticity to the role of an Italian-American from New Jersey; Jackie's romance with Ray is threatened when his past catches up with him; Lydia has her own share of drama in keeping her new beau a secret from Dolly.

Jackie's conflict over leaving for Mexico with Ray or staying in New Jersey with a visiting Abigail puts a strain on her friendship with Lydia; Frank has difficulty in accepting a generous gift from Plum; Lydia is charmed into getting Mack's irresponsible brother a job at the sports clinic.

Cucina DeLucca silent partner Paulie doesn't stay quiet for very long after distant cousin Lorenzo arrives from Italy to help in the kitchen and ends up making drastic changes to the restaurant's menu and ambiance; a laid-up Jackie thinks she's witnessed a murder.

As Paulie's birthday approaches, he discovers that Jimmy is gay; Lydia finds a new apartment right above the Cucina, and reunites with Mack; Frank and Dolly get an unpleasant surprise when they enter Lydia's new place without knocking; Lydia discovers that Jackie and Mack had a brief affair fourteen years ago.

Lydia advises a jock to pursue his dreams, encouraging him not to drop out of college; Jules returns for her grandson's christening; Jackie begins a quest to find her father; Paulie and Plum talk about having children; Jackie asks Frank to be Victor Francis's godfather.

Plum discovers that Gavin is the new teaching assistant assigned to her class; Valerie comes to the rescue when an attractive divorced friend tries to seduce Frank; Plum convinces Paulie to sit for the sergeant's exam, despite his lack of confidence; Lydia meets Gavin in the library and, unaware that he's Plum's ex-boyfriend, invites him to be her ""non-date"" for Plum's birthday party.